Image courtesy of creativeclass.com
This is why we should pray
together.
All of us should pause from what
we’re doing, find a person from a different culture, faith community or race,
and beg God to heal our nation. My atheist friends are welcome to bow in
silence while honoring the presence of the people holding hands.
All of us.
Me, you, everyone in your church,
mosque, synagogue, temple or humanist meeting group – pause and scream -I’m
tired of this shit!
There you go. I said it. I’m
tired of the meaningless deaths stirred by hate.
I’m past asking why it all
happens. I’m done with scrutinizing the
lives of these murdering bastards. I’m
sick of attempting to bring a level of intellect to stupid bullshit.
I have no better way to express
the angst I’m carrying after Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, shot and killed three
people near the campus of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Police
said all three victims were killed over a dispute involving parking tickets.
The killing of husband and wife
Deah Barakat, 23, and Yusor Mohammad, 21, and Mohammad’s sister Razan Mohammad
Abu-Salh generated national outrage after reports surfaced that all three were
Muslim.
The religion of the victims was
placed in the lede, while the alleged motive for the shooting was found deep
into the story. In the journalism
business we call this burying the lede. The lede is the up top information that
captures the essence of the story.
Parking rage seemed less
sensationalized than Muslims being shot in Chapel Hill, NC.
We could wag fingers at the press
for stressing the religion on the victims on the same day that American hostage
Kayla Mueller, 26, was confirmed dead after being abducted by members of ISIS.
Were members of the press using the murders to prove the point President Barack
Obama made during the National Prayer Breakfast?
“In our home country, slavery and
Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ,” the president said
during the breakfast. It is true that the Bible has been used in America and
around the world to justify revolting actions throughout history.
The appropriate response is for
the people, all of us, to say amen.
Drop the mic.
No one can deny the massive hate
circulating under the guise of God’s will.
Hate can be found in a variety of places, and religion is often used to
support the acts of those hell bent on proving a point, even if it means
killing innocent people along the way.
None of us really knows the
motive behind Hicks’ decision to kill. Maybe it was because of a parking space.
Maybe it was because he hates Muslims, and from what we’re being told, anyone
who practices any religion.
We can only assume.
Does it even matter?
That, in a big nasty nutshell, is
the crux at what has me using bad words versus the others that come with having
a quality education. Those dirty words
get at the essence of what has me fuming and ready to explode whenever I pick
up a newspaper, turn on the television or check my newsfeed on Facebook.
I can’t help but ask - have Americans
become impervious to death? Are we to
assume the right to hate alongside the other privileges that come with living
in the U. S. of A?
Sadly, I can’t cuss my way out of
my rage. Mixing street jargon with a few
big words fails to convey the indignation I carry after more people are killed
for reasons none of us understands.
I would like to say prayer is
enough, but I’ve been praying for a long time.
I know God is listening, but are we listening to God’s response?
Can you hear her speaking?
It all seems so simple – stop,
listen to one another, pray together and move beyond the assumptions each of us
make.
I’m praying that we take the hate
out of our religions. Until then, I’m
tired of this shit.
Help me stop using those bad
words.
